It wasn’t after a period of observation that Gong Xuechang discovered her blind date’s special job.
After all, the frequency of them meeting up for meals was a bit… too much. It was as if the other party wanted to make up for the number of times she rejected his invitation. Almost every day at noon, she would come to the school cafeteria just to see him. He naturally couldn’t take a date to the cafeteria with food that was more or less only ten Yuan. In the end, they always went to nearby gourmet restaurants.
Although this girl looks a bit eccentric, her personality was cute. Sometimes, she would appear with messy hair and yawn frequently due to lack of sleep. However, her eyes would be sparkling. She was like a small chick dazzled by food when she was hungry. Only later did he realize, her bright gaze was not for food at all, but… for him.
“Teacher Gong, I used the subjunctive mood for this sentence, can you see if this is correct?”
“‘He’s a little worried something might happen in the future.’ Is it the subjunctive?”“Teacher Gong, do you think the words I use here should be changed? I always feel that the translation is a bit strange.”
“Teacher Gong…”
She seemed to have endless questions. Some of the topics she raised even had practical and research significance such as, ‘I can follow you just like a shadow chasing the light…’ or ‘If you were the fireworks on the sea, I would be the foam of the waves. Your light illuminates me at a certain moment…’
“Teacher, how can we.. beautify this translation? I mean… you know? I want to reflect the beauty of the Chinese language; a kind of love that seems to be humble but persistent, yet doesn’t ask for anything in return…” she said. “I always feel that there are no words in English that reflect the beauty of these Chinese words.”
Gong Xuechang glanced at it and found that what she had brought out were typical Chinese lyrics and a series of compliments that were popular on the Internet. How to translate the language that was both beautiful and still understandable was also a major topic of his current research. However, apart from the enthusiastic discussion, Gong Xuechang was also interested in Fang Qiuye’s career.
He put down the coffee cup in his hand, and he couldn’t help but raise a smile at the question as Fang Qiuye pushed her frame glasses on the bridge of her nose with an inquisitive look on her face.
“Miss Fang is very sensitive to the beauty of language, and you are also very talented,” he said. “Do you read often?”This line of conversation was finally more like how normal blind dates go. After ten dates, the topic had finally expanded beyond the scope of English tutoring.
Fang Qiuye was taken aback. In fact, she was a bit introverted and didn’t like to communicate too much with strangers in public. But for the man, who she had met more than ten times and whose name had been pasted on her computer screen, Teacher Gong had now obviously risen to the level below her best friend, but above a common friend. She felt Completely comfortable opening up the conversation.
“Of course. I read a lot every day,” she replied. Fang Qiuye was even a little proud when she said this.
Since college, while others were listening to lectures, she was sneakily reading from below.
If she were to share how it all started, the story would go way back to her grade school days. While others were doing serious stuff, she would read famous romance novels inside the library. Of course, this was just a hobby. She had never failed a class; she was a good student all the way. She was one of the lucky people who would still pass every exam even though she only studied at the last minute.
As Fang Qiuye thought of her great achievements in the past, she smiled and ate a delicious roast duck.
On the contrary, Gong Xuechang was stunned. “Is it work related?” he asked. He also read a lot of academic materials every day.
“Um…half and half.” Fang Qiuye wasn’t abLe to fully swallow the roast duck inside her mouth. But she waved her hand, not wanting the other party to misunderstand too much. “However, I mainly read for entertainment purposes,” she brushed it off casually.
She didn’t want to hide anything from the teacher, who she thought their relationship was above a common friend. She even planned to tell the other party about her real work and the purpose for their tutoring sessions.
However, Gong Xuechang guessed it first. He found that Jinjiang, which was the company she worked at, was a website. And the girl in front of him always liked to take out a notebook from her small bag and jot down a few sentences from time to time. There were even a few times when she left her seat in the middle of their tutoring sessions. When she came back, he would find her holding her mobile phone and typing very seriously.
While she was preoccupied, a faint smile always appeared on her face. Sometimes, she would even be muttering…
“If the male protagonist talks like this, will he be criticized badly?”
“Hmmm… is it too late to start talking about sex now?”
“Why is this man so infatuated with this woman that he couldn’t even think of giving her up? Hmm… I need to add more to the plot for it to be more convincing…”
“The villain was killed in one move. Is it good or bad? Argh, I’m so torn…”
Every time he took her home after a meal, he could hear her blurting out the thoughts in her head as she sat in the car seat.
One day, Gong Xuechang finally had the chance to pick up the notebook that Fang Qiuye had left after a meal. He didn’t have the habit of peeping at other people’s belongings. He only sent a text message to Fang Qiuye, telling her that he had the notebook and that he would return it to her the next time they met.
